Seventeen different instruments are used in the programme for Ensemble Cymru’s national tour [March 2012]; this work, commissioned specially for the event, uses 16 of them together.
In searching for a theme, it became evident that the three venues were connected with different bodies of water – the Usk river in Newport, the Irish Sea by Rhosygilwen and Tudno’s Spring in Llandudno. Adding a lake gives the four main kinds of living water in Wales. As water is so central to Welsh mythology, I decided to base the movements of this work on legends connected to the three venues, adding Llangorse Lake near Brecon as the fourth.
Gerald of Wales noted that the birds of that lake would sing only if commanded to do so by the true leader of the land, and no-one else.
Tudno’s Spring is one of many on the Great Orme above Llandudno; Saint Tudno, who gives his name to the town, is connected with a whetstone which would sharpen the blades only of brave men.
©Gareth Glyn 2012
Supported by
National Lottery
Arts Council of Wales
Welsh Government
